Riped off . . . ?

CJSF

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Having this morning returned a very poor non audiophile 180gs audiophile copy of Jennifer Warnes 'the Hunter', SQ was compressed and poor, clicks and pops, the label was so off centre it almost covered the run off groove. These problems set me to thinking, do we see 180gs as some sort of stamp of quality? A good number of my pre 1990 LP's are certainly not anywhere near 180gs, the sound quality of which are excellent.

We are paying top dollar, in many cases top dollar with knobs on for these so called 'audiophile recordings'?

I have a number of Clarity Recording LP that are the dogs *****, 200gs, pressed only one side and two discs per LP, they are amazing, fully deserving the 'AP' stamp and the premium price paid. Alison Krauss, 'Raising Sand', 180gs, two discs, only 13 tracks, groove spacing is very wide and superbly engineered by T Bone Burnett, a bargain at £18! I've just ordered Lenard Cohen’s 'Old Ideas', 180gs, 10 tracks, not seen it yet but I'll bet the groove spacing is wide and if my experience of what I've heard on Spotify is anything to go by, the engineering will be spot on, again a potential £18 bargin and it come with the CD . . .

These are some of the things that make an audiophile recording special for me, offering smooth, effortless information retrieval, allowing the music to roll and blossom from the speakers, enveloping me in a listening experience.

The 180gs stamp does nothing for me . . . CJSF
 

DandyCobalt

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That's been my experience too - it doesn't cost much more to produce 180g vinyl (pennies), so the record companies are using the thickness of the vinyl as some sort of quality endorsement of the content, which it certainly isn't, and to charge a premium.

That's why the "Praise and Shame" thread could be really helpful:

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/turntables-and-lps/praise-shame-rate-your-new-vinyl-here

I tend to check what company produced the vinyl as a guide - Moblie Fidelity, Analogue Productions, Four Men With Beards have all been excellent for me so far.
 

floyd droid

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It dosnt really matter if the pressing is 180/200 or 1000g . If its rubbish vinyl they use for the pressing then you are on a loser before the first fence. A lot of companys use re-grind , bad bad move as it is rubbish. Take a look at some of your records and look out for the different shades of black in it ,for instance. If tis shiny shiny carol smiley all over, then tis prolly virgin material, the only way to go. If it looks blemished then tis more than likely regrind. Obviously the state of the master, cleanliness of the stamper etc etc comes into play, but if they dont use virgin vinyl at the start with a good quality carbon black mixer, well you are hearing it for yourself.

I dont, and never have, bought into this 180g is the dogs doo dahs. Problem is a lot of these re issues or special editions are pressed on this weight because of,imo, sales hype, so if you want that particular album you are stuffed all ends up.

Gimme a wafer thin japanese issue any day :grin:
 
CJSF said:
Having this morning returned a very poor non audiophile 180gs audiophile copy of Jennifer Warnes 'the Hunter', SQ was compressed and poor, clicks and pops, the label was so off centre it almost covered the run off groove. These problems set me to thinking, do we see 180gs as some sort of stamp of quality? A good number of my pre 1990 LP's are certainly not anywhere near 180gs, the sound quality of which are excellent. We are paying top dollar, in many cases top dollar with knobs on for these so called 'audiophile recordings'? I have a number of Clarity Recording LP that are the dogs *****, 200gs, pressed only one side and two discs per LP, they are amazing, fully deserving the 'AP' stamp and the premium price paid. Alison Krauss, 'Raising Sand', 180gs, two discs, only 13 tracks, groove spacing is very wide and superbly engineered by T Bone Burnett, a bargain at £18! I've just ordered Lenard Cohen’s 'Old Ideas', 180gs, 10 tracks, not seen it yet but I'll bet the groove spacing is wide and if my experience of what I've heard on Spotify is anything to go by, the engineering will be spot on, again a potential £18 bargin and it come with the CD . . . These are some of the things that make an audiophile recording special for me, offering smooth, effortless information retrieval, allowing the music to roll and blossom from the speakers, enveloping me in a listening experience. The 180gs stamp does nothing for me . . . CJSF

That's the joys of having a revealing system. I've found more 'cost effective' set-ups are less fussy about recordings. C'est la vie.
 

CJSF

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Looks like my suspisions are not ungrounded . . . we are often being riped off? Give it the 180gs tag and charge a fortune :wall:

CJSF
 
CJSF said:
Looks like my suspisions are not ungrounded . . . we are often being riped off? Give it the 180gs tag and charge a fortune :wall:

CJSF

That's always been the case though. I remember back in the 70s buying a Chic 7" version of Le Freak and subsequently bought the album. Both versions sounded fine, however, a friend had the 12" single of this track and it sounded awful.

There are countless other examples I could give you, but won't. Boring. But going back to my previous post I still firmly believe the better the system and the poor recordings are exposed.
 

CJSF

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plastic penguin said:
CJSF said:
Looks like my suspisions are not ungrounded . . . we are often being riped off? Give it the 180gs tag and charge a fortune :wall:

CJSF

That's always been the case though. I remember back in the 70s buying a Chic 7" version of Le Freak and subsequently bought the album. Both versions sounded fine, however, a friend had the 12" single of this track and it sounded awful.

There are countless other examples I could give you, but won't. Boring. But going back to my previous post I still firmly believe the better the system and the poor recordings are exposed.

Budget vinyl system . . . true it might blur the edges a bit, stands to reason I suppose. :? I'd think hard about that though, the budget system has a built in limit, thats fair enough, but add to that limit, poor sound quality, pops and clicks . . . especially the pops and clicks . . . thats a further down grade? I cant see that as acceptable, because one would want to get as much as possible from the limitations of such a system, how can one accept poor quality recording, if so, you have lost before you start, you have been ripped off?

My P5 as was, in standard form, correctly set up, with Ortofon 2M Blue was hi end budget? . . . I'm sure the record I have just sent back would have been revealed as poor quality . . . equally a P3 would have done so as well, those pops and clicks were obvious in the track spacing groves and the run out hissed.

Personal view . . . CJSF
 
Don't think budget systems blur the edges, in the strictest sense. The very fact that budget are, let's say, a bit more amicable in identifying poor recordings, whereas better systems such as yours, similar to mine in some respects, will totally lay bare the naff recordings, regardless of whether it's vinyl, CD or downloads.

The prime example was my old Arcam Alpha 7 and Wharfedale. They sounded really good for the money, but once I changed to A65+ and RS6s - after years of listening to good rather than great set-ups - was a tad frustrating. Now I've got the Leema this unpicks bad recordings further ruthlessly.

Perhaps we all have to be a little more choosey in terms of labels. Don't know, however, if a definitive answer exists.
 

CJSF

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plastic penguin said:
Don't think budget systems blur the edges, in the strictest sense. The very fact that budget are, let's say, a bit more amicable in identifying poor recordings, whereas better systems such as yours, similar to mine in some respects, will totally lay bare the naff recordings, regardless of whether it's vinyl, CD or downloads.

The prime example was my old Arcam Alpha 7 and Wharfedale. They sounded really good for the money, but once I changed to A65+ and RS6s - after years of listening to good rather than great set-ups - was a tad frustrating. Now I've got the Leema this unpicks bad recordings further ruthlessly.

Perhaps we all have to be a little more choosey in terms of labels. Don't know, however, if a definitive answer exists.

For sure PP, I wont be buying on the 'Cisco' label in future . . . I suppose the answer is, be sure to return anything thats not up to scratch . . . perhaps someone will get the message???

Alternative . . . dump vinyl :wall: ??? . . . as I type, I'm listening to Nat King Cole on Spotify . . . piety good it is sounding too!

Ever since I’ve had this new computer and my tame computer man set it up with a professional program that has something to do with the HRT DAC . . . No I dont know what it is either, he just gave me a knowing wink and nod???

Dump vinyl, perhaps that a bit drastic . . . its late, my head is a bit off this time of night, too much lemon tea??? But there is no doubt sound quality is superb.

CJSF
 

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